Introduction


Social media have developed rapidly over the past two decades, becoming increasingly embedded in everyday life. Perceived primarily as platforms for entertainment, they have evolved into more complex tools for facilitating social interactions, shaping self-representation and creating new forms of economic activity. Within the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, social media have acquired new roles, serving as crucial sources of information, fostering political engagement, social support, and community building.
However, an intense information flow may lead to cognitive overload, and the experience of individuals who refrain from using such platforms under the pressure during wartime remains an underexplored area of research.


Purpose


The purpose of this study is to explore central aspects of the subjective experience of individuals who discontinued the use of social media during the Russian-Ukrainian war, making a contribution into an understanding of the respondents` sense-making activity in a case under investigation.
Method
The study uses qualitative approach to phenomenon. The data were collected by the semi-structured interviews, coded and interpreted through interpretative phenomenological analysis. The interviews were conducted with six young adults aged 19-29 residing in Kyiv, Ukraine.


Results


The experience of disengaging from social media during wartime was interpreted through three categories: a regained sense of control over the information environment, enabling selective news consumption, emphasized value of face-to-face interactions regarding social communication, and viewing social media as a distractor while longing for time and space free from media noise.


Conclusions


The findings demonstrate that despite reducing distractions and information overload, participants have still retained a limited access to social media for communicating safety and wellbeing with others, using these platforms as primary sources of information during wartime.
Disengagement from social media was also associated with a diminished sense of a link between war-related news, personal life, and the possibility of meaningful change.